Microsoft SharePoint is a robust and helpful hub for sharing documents and managing team projects. Once something only large enterprises could afford, any business today can use SharePoint via the Office365 platform. It's an excellent productivity hub for medium and small businesses, a topic discussed in the article, 'What is Sharepoint, and how can SMEs use it?'. 

Once you start using SharePoint, it will help you and your team become more focused and productive. Yet, while the software holds that potential, it's still up to you to use those features effectively. At first, SharePoint can be overwhelming and even intimidating. But rather than take it all in at once, focus on the elements that will be useful to your plans. 

To help you decide what SharePoint features are the best fit for you, here are several tips to consider: 

Create central sites: SharePoint allows you to create team and communication sites -central hubs for your project. A team site is a spot where team members can collaborate, access files, task lists and much more. Specifically, a team site can be linked to specific groups, including their calendars and Teams sessions. You can also create a communication site to give people outside the team access to information and announcements.  

Use Kanban: Kanban boards have become familiar among companies that use agile project management. SharePoint recently added a board view that can incorporate task lists - effectively providing a drag-and-drop Kanban system. Find out more here. 

Combine with Office365 tools: Since SharePoint forms part of the online Office365 suite, it conveniently integrates with other Microsoft tools. These include Teams, OneNote, Dynamics 365, Outlook, and OneDrive. These integrations can significantly boost productivity if your team already uses several Microsoft tools. 

Integrate with other software: Most teams use multiple software applications, many of which are Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) products such as Salesforce, Dropbox, and Slack. You can bring elements of those services into SharePoint or make SharePoint information available on those services. Many services have made integration an effortless process. For example, Slack and Salesforce have straightforward instructions. 

Create custom workflows: Every project has routine tasks that combine into workflows. Manually managing such tasks is very time-consuming, which is why SharePoint workflows are super handy. Create easy workflows for approvals, feedback collection, and tracking various project issues. Developing such workflows takes a little time, but they boost enormous productivity and collaboration, especially in larger teams or projects.  

Reporting and dashboards: Track the progress of your project with reports and scorecards. SharePoint provides several ways to create reports, from integrating with Excel spreadsheets to using PowerPivot, PerformancePoint Dashboard Designer, and Visio. You can also use SharePoint's Business Intelligence Center feature to create a central intelligence hub for your team. 

SharePoint is a perfect collaboration and team platform for both small and large businesses. If you are already an Office365 subscriber, you have access to many of these features. To find out more or discover how to join Office365, visit Vodacom Business' Office365 portal.